Midnight at the Pera Palace_The Birth of Modern Istanbul
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318Located not far from Taksim Square: Mansel, Constantinople, 419. In the restaurant, the Japanese held court: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 136.
319Before he retired to dinner: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 136.
320Pushed along by the south-flowing: The most thorough account of the Struma affair is Frantz and Collins, Death on the Black Sea, on which I have based some of the details in my own retelling. The book contains a very fine essay by Samuel Aroni that tries to reconstruct the passenger manifest, a much more difficult task than it might seem.
321Sympathetic humanitarians could occasionally pass: Goldin to Jewish Agency, Feb. 26, 1942, JAP-IDI, Reel 72. On January 2, 1942, six men: Ludovic, et al., to Director of the Port Police, Istanbul, Jan. 2, 1942, JAP-IDI, Reel 72.
322The Struma was to be towed: Goldin to Jewish Agency, Feb. 26, 1942. There is some debate about whether the Struma even had an engine at this point, since the motor had earlier been removed for repair and may never have been returned to the ship before the towing order was put into effect. “Save us!”: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 5.
323“Struma wrecked blacksea”: Goldin to Jewish Agency, Feb. 25, 1942, JAP-IDI, Reel 72. He first included the names: “Survivors,” Mar. 8, 1942, JAP-IDI, Reel 72. Only nine passengers: Frantz and Collins, Death on the Black Sea, 335. It turned out to be the handiwork: Sudoplatov, Special Tasks, 35; Rubin, Istanbul Intrigues, 13–14.
324The authorities had done everything possible: “Die Juden der ‘Struma,’ die England nicht nach Palästina liess,” Türkische Post, Apr. 21, 1942. Saydam followed up by dismissing: Guttstadt, Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust, 117. In fact, the Turkish agency reported not on the sinking but on the day of mourning held in Palestine for the Struma victims. I thank Corry Guttstadt for pointing out the difference.
325“It was an avalanche”: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 17. Identified as an up-and-comer: See Hirschmann, Caution to the Winds.
326After reading about the disaster: Hirschmann, Caution to the Winds, 127.
327“The president has just signed”: Quoted in Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 19. After five days en route: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 22. “An old world seems slipping away”: Hirschmann diary entry, n.d. [Feb. 1944], p. 2, Hirschmann Papers, FDR, Box 1, Folder “Portions of Ira Hirschmann’s Diary, Feb.–Oct. 1944,” Part 1.
328Support was to be provided: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 23–24. Americans were a people with a conscience: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 26. He began to feel: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 33.
331That satisfied the police: Kollek, For Jerusalem, 43–44.
332Jews quickly found themselves trapped: Hirschmann, “Palestine as a Refuge from Fascism,” Survey Graphic (May 1945): 195. The regulations were so strictly enforced: Memorandum from G. V. Allen, Division of Near Eastern Affairs, US Department of State, Dec. 1, 1941, Shaw Collection, USHMM, File 2, pp. 1–3. Since my research was conducted, the Shaw Collection files have been rearranged, with a new finding aid available from USHMM.
333But while these examples: Guttstadt, Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust, 296–98. In November 1942, the government enacted: Translation of “Law Concerning the Tax on Wealth,” p. 1, Nov. 11, 1942, RG59, M1242, Reel 31. Some 114,368 individuals and businesses: “The Capital Levy: A Key to the Understanding of Current Trends in Turkey,” p. 6, May 3, 1944, NARA, RG59, M1242, Reel 31. “This law is also a law of revolution”: Quoted in Bali, “Varlık Vergisi” Affair, 55. According to a secret report: “The Capital Levy,” p. 3. Muslims believed to have Jewish ancestry—the so-called dönme, descendants of a Jewish sect whose members converted to Islam in the seventeenth century—were given impossibly high assessments as well. Many of the most successful businesses: Akçura, Gramofon Çaı, 30.
334It was all a shameful episode: Ökte, Tragedy of the Turkish Capital Tax, 14. The men of the household: Murray to Welles, Mar. 13, 1943, pp. 1–2, NARA, RG59, M1224, Reel 31. In the end, more than a thousand: Ökte, Tragedy of the Turkish Capital Tax, 73–74. Their personal belongings were sold: Guttstadt, Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust, 72–81. Greeks, Armenians, and Jews owned: Ayhan Aktar, “‘Tax Me to the End of My Life!’: Anatomy of an Anti-Minority Tax Legislation (1942–3),” in Fortna et al., eds., State-Nationalisms in the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and Turkey, 211–12. “According to the best-informed”: Istanbul to State, Dec. 8, 1942, p. 1, NARA, RG59, M1224, Reel 31.
335But because of rationing: Goldin to Jewish Agency, Nov. 17, 1943, JAP-IDI, Reel 48. The response was to accede: See Chaim Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” Dec. 15, 1943, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. Moreover, the Turkish government: “History of the War Refugee Board,” Vol. 1, p. 14, WRB, Folder 17. At that rate, Ira Hirschmann later reckoned: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 32. The plan went into effect: Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” p.1. By December 1943, Barlas had already compiled: Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” p. 1.
336Small numbers of refugees had also arrived: Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” p. 1. In December, Barlas wrote to Ambassador Steinhardt: Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” p. 2. In fact, nearly twice as many: Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” p. 2. See also Resnik to Hirschmann, July 3, 1944, JOINT, Reel 108.
337The War Refugee Board persuaded: “History of the War Refugee Board,” Vol. 1, p. 15. Other funds: “History of the War Refugee Board,” Vol. 1, p. 15. Further Joint-funded programs: Resnik to Hirschmann, July 7, 1944, JOINT, Reel 108; and “Report on Activities from February 1944 to March 21, 1944,” JOINT, Reel 111. Hirschmann was also in regular contact: Macfarland to Donovan, Aug. 11, 1944, p. 3, NARA, RG226, Entry 210, Box 194, File 9.
338Now, at last, he felt: Barlas to Hirschmann, Mar. 23, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. In the summer of 1938: Guttstadt, Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust, 132–33. But the devil: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 40–45.
339“Send certificates”: Moshe Slowes to Abraham Slowes, Mar. 12, 1941, Slowes Collection, USHMM.
340“I venture to hope”: Abraham Slowes to Swedish Consul, Jerusalem, Aug. 18, 1943, Slowes Collection, USHMM.
341“With reference to your letter”: British Embassy, Moscow, to Abraham Slowes, Nov. 10, 1944, Slowes Collection, USHMM. A follow-up note: T. C. Sharman to Abraham Slowes, Apr. 5, 1945, Slowes Collection, USHMM. Slowes’s mother and six other family members are believed to have been killed at Ponary, an infamous mass-execution site in the suburbs of Vilnius, Lithuania, in late 1941 or 1942. His father probably perished in a Nazi labor camp in Estonia. The only immediate family member to survive was an older brother, Salomon, who had the perverse good fortune of having been taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1939, which meant that he escaped almost certain death when Germany invaded in 1941. Salomon later joined Polish volunteers fighting alongside Allied forces in Iraq, Palestine, North Africa, and Italy, and settled after the war in Tel Aviv.
AT THE GATE OF FELICITY
345“It would appear from the telegrams”: Steinhardt to Secretary of State, Mar. 3, 1944, p. 4, Hirschmann Papers, FDR, Box 1, Folder “Dispatches from U.S. Embassy, Ankara, to War Refugee Board, 2/8/44–6/2/44.”
346At a minimum, getting out of Romania required: Application materials of Marcel Leibovici, Romanian General Directorate of Passports Office Records, 1939–1944, USHMM, Reel 3.
347The form required that the applicant: Application materials of Linder Maier, Romanian General Directorate of Passports Office Records, 1939–1944, USHMM, Reel 3. The Struma affair had made the government: Steinhardt to Resnik, June 15, 1944, JOINT, Reel 104.
348Even as seemingly simple a matter: Steinhardt to Resnik, June 8, 1944, JOINT, Reel 104. And since some of them were expressly involved: Steinhardt to Barlas, June 5, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. See also Steinhardt to Pehle, May 18, 1944, and Steinhardt to War Refugee Board, June 1, 1944, Hirschmann Papers, FDR, Box 1, Folder “Dispatches from U.S. Embassy, Ankara, to War Refugee Board
, 2/8/44–6/2/44.” Earlier that spring, Foreign Minister: Steinhardt to Barlas, Apr. 3, 1944, Shaw Collection, USHMM, File 3.
349For that reason, Barlas: Kollek, For Jerusalem, 44. The old tombstones were rearranged: Harington, Tim Harington Looks Back, 137.
350They were “a strange community”: Nicolson, Sweet Waters, 23. The Levantines were: Mufty-zada, Speaking of the Turks, 146–47. There were fewer than 23,000: Ives to Secretary of State, Nov. 14, 1928, pp. 7, 10, NARA, RG59, M353, Reel 57. “Levantine” was not a category used on Turkish censuses, so the figure presumably comes from an American diplomat’s use of the term to describe local Catholics in general.
352On February 12, 1943: Peter Hoffmann puts the first meeting on January 20, 1943, but this is an inference based on materials that Barlas passed along to the apostolic delegate, rather than on a record of the meeting itself. Given the telegram from Jerusalem on February 12, it seems more likely that Barlas had not yet visited the cathedral when the telegram was received. But at least by May, Barlas and Roncalli had established a regular series of meetings. Hoffmann, “Roncalli in the Second World War,” 83; Barlas to Roncalli, May 22, 1943, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. “He explained that when talking”: Tittmann, Inside the Vatican of Pius XII, 124.
354He began learning Turkish: John XXIII, Journal of a Soul, 233. “My work in Turkey is not easy”: John XXIII, Journal of a Soul, 234–35. The Turkish government had extended: Massigli, La Turquie devant la guerre, 98. In 1939, when Roncalli contacted: Righi, Papa Giovanni XXIII sulle rive del Bosforo, 194.
355In Roncalli’s case: Massigli, La Turquie devant la guerre, 98. “Have seen today his eminence”: Barlas to Herzog, June 12, 1943, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. On multiple occasions, he asked Barlas: Roncalli to Weltmann, July 31, 1943; Weltmann to Roncalli, July 31, 1943; Barlas to Goldin, Aug. 10, 1943; Barlas to Roncalli, Aug. 10, 1943; Barlas to Roncalli, Aug. 12, 1943; Barlas to Roncalli, Mar. 27, 1944; Barlas to Roncalli, June 6, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. In November the chief rabbi: Herzog to Roncalli, Nov. 22, 1943, JAP-IDI, Reel 1.
357He was sometimes called: Friling, “Nazi-Jewish Negotiations,” 405. “We are in the fifth year”: Quoted in Barlas, Hatsalah, 114. A limited number of Jews: Steinhardt to War Refugee Board, May 25, 1944, Hirschmann Papers, FDR, Box 1, Folder “Dispatches from U.S. Embassy, Ankara, to War Refugee Board, 2/8/44–6/2/44.”
358Through his channels of communication: Schwartz to War Refugee Board, July 20, 1944, JOINT, Reel 108.
359Others took to copying down: Guttstadt, Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust, 127. On June 5, Roncalli wrote to Barlas: Roncalli to Barlas, June 5, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. “Thanks to these documents”: Barlas to Roncalli, June 6, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. Roncalli forwarded the report: Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope, 324–26. Later, the papal nuncio: Phayer, Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 50. “He has helped the Jews”: Quoted in Hoffmann, “Roncalli in the Second World War,” 90.
360“We are called to live”: Quoted in Righi, Papa Giovanni XXIII sulle rive del Bosforo, 261. The ship was rated for only three hundred: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 87.
361As with all transports, the Joint had provided: Barlas to Hirschmann, Aug. 24, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. She had been this way: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 88. “As expected, it was very bad”: Frankfort to Goldin, July 10, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. The world, he said: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 87–89.
362Around 12:30 a.m.: On the matter of Soviet responsibility, see Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust, 195–98. A few dozen passengers: “Report on the Sinking of the m/v ‘Mefkure,’” Sept. 9, 1944, JAP-IDI, Reel 173.
363Turkish authorities had ordered: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 142. At the Park Hotel, the Germans ate: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 142. Rooms were going for half price: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 144. Franz von Papen, the German ambassador: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 145. These ships carried: “Boats,” JAP-IDI, Reel 122. In all, from 1942 to 1945: “Summary of Immigrants from 1942 to the End of 1945,” JAP-IDI, Reel 122. In the end, more than a quarter: Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust, 318.
364“The results of the immigration in numbers”: Chaim Barlas, “Report on Immigration,” Dec. 15, 1943, p. 2, JAP-IDI, Reel 1. Of the people who departed: “Summary of Immigrants.”
365The first violinist: Hirschmann, Life Line to a Promised Land, 147. I thank Corry Guttstadt for discovering the violinist’s name.
EPILOGUE
370Early the next morning: “Perapalas Otelinin Sahibi Odasında Ölü Bulundu,” Milliyet, Oct. 13, 1954. “Now that my cat is dead”: Quoted in “Millionaire, Broken Over Dead Cat, Dies,” Baltimore Sun, Oct. 14, 1954. He had turned over the hotel: “Misbah Muhayyein Mirası Tesbit Ediliyor,” Milliyet, Oct. 15, 1954; “Misbah Muhayyein Vârisleri Çoalıyor,” Milliyet, Oct. 19, 1954.
371Landholdings that party leaders had acquired: Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History, 233.
372At least eleven people: Güven, 6–7 Eylül Olayları, 40, 181. The number of deaths and level of property damage remain controversial. For higher figures, see Vryonis, Mechanism of Catastrophe, 549.
373One who actually did was the poet Joseph Brodsky: “Flight from Byzantium,” in Brodsky, Less Than One, 396–97.
377It does not take too much effort: My reconstruction of the last moments before the explosion relies on: “Pera Palace Claimants,” NAUK, FO 950/10; De Téhige to Ambassador, Apr. 21, 1941, NAUK, FO 198/106; “Pera Palas Bomb Outrage,” Apr. 2, 1941, NAUK, FO 198/106; Vardarsu to British Embassy, Apr. 20, 1941, NAUK, FO 198/106; and a list of victims and compensation from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nov. 13, 1941, in NAUK, FO 198/107.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York
Adam P. and Feofaniia V. Benningsen Papers
Mitrofan Ivanovich Boiarintsev Papers
Committee for the Education of Russian Youth in Exile Records
Aleksandr Pavlovich Kutepov Papers
Georgii Aleksandrovich Orlov Papers
Russkii Obshche-Voinskii Soiuz (Russian Universal Military Union) Papers
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Washington, DC
Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks Fieldwork Records and Papers
Thomas Whittemore Papers
Robert L. Van Nice Records and Fieldwork Papers
Georgetown University Library, Special Collections Research Center, Washington, DC
Cornelius Van H. Engert Papers
Hoover Institution Archives, Palo Alto, California
Dmitri Shalikashvili Papers
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massacussetts
Leon Trotsky Exile Papers
Imperial War Museum Archives, London
Wing Commander D. L. Allen Papers
Charles Bambury Photograph Collection
Major T. B. Bardo Papers
C. J. Brunell Photograph Collection
G. Calverley Papers
Lieutenant M. M. Carus Wilson Papers
Letters of Brigadier General W. B. Emery
Major General W. A. F. L. Fox-Pitt Papers
Lieutenant C. H. Garner Papers
J. A. Graham Photograph Collection
Greco-Turkish War Intelligence Reports, 1922–1923
Major A. McPherson Papers
Air Marshal S. C. Strafford Papers
F. W. Turpin Papers
C. Vinicombe Papers
Commander O. F. M. Wethered Papers
Istanbul Research Institute, Istanbul
Photograph and Map Collection
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Mark Lambert Bristol Papers, Manuscript Reading Room
Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, Prints and Photographs Division
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Ma
ryland
State Department Records
Office of Strategic Services Archives
National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew
Cabinet Office Records
Foreign Office Records
Special Operations Executive Records
War Office Records
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York
Oscar Cox Papers
Ira Hirschmann Papers
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives and Library, Washington, DC
Abraham and Simone Slowes Collection
Jewish Agency for Palestine Records, Immigration Department, Office in Istanbul
Papers of the War Refugee Board
Romanian General Directorate of Passports Office Records, 1939–1944
Selected Records from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1937–1966
Selected Records from the Ghetto Fighters’ House, 1920–1950
Selected Records from Romanian Diplomatic Missions, 1920–1950
Stanford Shaw Collection
Ellen T. Meth Collection, Wang Family Papers
Wiener Library Thematic Press Cuttings
Yapı Kredi Bank, Istanbul
Selahattin Giz Collection
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
Baltimore Sun
Boston Globe
Le Courrier de Turquie (Istanbul)
Cumhuriyet (Istanbul)
L’Entente (Istanbul)
Journal de la Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Constantinople (Istanbul)
Le Journal d’Orient (Istanbul)
Le Moniteur oriental (Istanbul)
Milliyet (Istanbul)
New York Times
Orient News (Istanbul)
Stamboul (Istanbul)
Tarih ve Toplum (Istanbul)
Toplumsal Tarih (Istanbul)